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Thursday, April 30, 2015

Carroll does some
very interesting and clever things with the ideas of ghosts and the
afterlife, which, along with some great characters and a few moments
of pure emotion, really is what I was hoping to get from this book,
and I did. It was an interesting and thought-provoking journey,
though I wouldn't say I agreed with the ideas put forth.

The convoluted story
had me guessing and turning pages. I liked the feel of this story
-its world and its style- and with good plot and compelling
characters, I can't complain.

Carroll meshed so many ideas into his version of afterlife, life after death, and
so on. There are ghosts, reincarnated beings, angels, all sorts of
details pulled from all kinds of theology and ideas, plus several
that Carroll made up himself. How he played with reality is probably
what I enjoyed most with this story. We got to see a lot more about
this world by being able to experience it through a variety of
characters, including a ghost, the Angel of Death, and a dog, who all
see different versions or facets of the same reality. It's
fascinating.

The writing style
captivated me, pumped with emotion, and gently guiding me through the tale. Carroll makes me feel for
these characters; better, he lets me feel through them. I see
what they see, think what they think, feel what they feel. Any
secrets kept from the reader pertain to the plot, not the characters,
and I liked that. The book jumps around from scene to scene,
character to character, feeding us relevant bits of the story,
instead of staying with a specific character or even chronology. I
really love this type of narration. It feels adventurous, daring,
untamed.

There were a few
things I didn't like about this story: Several references to
lesbianism, a few intimate and/or explicit details, and the
underlying theme that -slight spoilers- man is outgrowing God. Or,
more specifically, that mankind is evolving out of its need for God. I
don't know if it was meant to be agnostic, atheistic, a moral or
social commentary, or just a storytelling tool. That underlying theme
made the story possible and interesting, so for the book it's
thought-provoking, but I can't say I took any great meaning from this. For me, it was just an entertaining read.

There are no plot
threads left untied. The overall story could be considered
open-ended, but there was enough closure provided
for a satisfactory ending.

Overall an entertaining and intriguing read, but I'd definitely consider The Ghost in Love a
mature or PG-13 rating. Despite the bits I didn't like, the style, the writing, and the story were all so captivating that I'd still give Carroll's novels another try.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

It's hilarious, heart-warming, brave, and meaningful. I wish I'd
had this to read when I was an awkward teenager. The first person POV
is masterfully done, and I loved being inside the head of Harriet
Manners, because it was such an interesting and occasionally awkward
place to be.

I liked that this was all about a girl just trying to find out
where she fits in the world. That she happens to do this by stepping
into the fashion business when she doesn't even like clothes or wear
heels -well, that was just a bonus.I wasn't really sure what to expect with this, but I was fairly
confident there would be a good dose of rather vicious, backstabbing
characters. I've seen Devil Wears Prada.
Surprisingly, the fashion world here was not as cruel and heartless
as I feared. I say 'fear' because, while I like a good
fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age, self-discovery story, I don't
necessarily like it to be uncomfortable. Awkward, sure, no problem,
but I don't like to spend a lot of time with characters who are
spiteful for no real reason even if they are the quote unquote
villain. There were a couple of these characters, but they didn't
take up a lot of page space. Most of the main characters within the
fashion world were far more interesting, like Yuka
Ito, who's severe and intimidating, but
not necessarily cruel.

I had so many favorite parts about this
book. The best friends, Harriet and Nat. Harriet's
would-be-boyfriend/stalker who, while not exactly adorable, helped
Harriet figure things out. All of the characters were wonderful and
bursting with personality. I liked that the romance subplot was so
subtle, because it's really secondary to the story. It focused on
Harriet's attempt to 're-invent' herself, the best friend crisis, the
family issues, and school problems, and the fish-out-of-water story, so when you think about it, the
romance was really sixth on the list. Geek Girl was about
self-discovery, and none of that self-discovery came from liking or
being liked by a guy. It all came from Harriet.

I love Harriet so much because
she's so incredibly normal. Well, maybe not the geek bits and the
factoids, but she frets and she worries and she jumps to worst case
scenarios even if she should know better. She's a fifteen
year old girl.Everything about
her is so easy to relate to, that I think girls for generations are
going to want to grow up with Harriet and learn with her.

Above all, I loved what Smale had to say about accepting yourself
-for all your quirks and faults- instead of twisting yourself into a
pretzel trying to get other people to accept you.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Her mission: to boldly read what she's never read before, to seek
out new characters and new civilizations, and to find science fiction
that she can wholeheartedly enjoy.

Fuzzy Nation

by John
Scalzi

Sci-Fi

Audiobook

4/5 stars

I picked up this
book because I'm still trying to read new things. Sci-fi is a genre
that I've always had trouble with, but this title caught my eye.
Plus, it's narrated by Wil Wheaton. I still have this irrational idea
that sci-fi is boring and goes over my head, and I'm still trying to
convince myself that it's not true.This was probably
the perfect book to do that.I have a hard time
grasping this fear of sci-fi. When I tried to read sci-fi when I was
younger, it always felt cold and distant and, well, alien. Fuzzy
Nation, by comparison, is colorful, vibrant with life, and above
all utterly human. The
story is about a major corporation mining the minerals from an
uninhabited planet and what happens when someone discovers their
might be a sentient life form on the planet after all. It's
almost like Scalzi took some traditional sci-fi and infused it with a
dose of stark reality, including greed, lawyers, ethics,
and environmentalists.

My favorite part of
this story was Jack Holloway, the main character. I am all about
interesting and imperfect characters, and this guy was the cream of
the crop. He's kind of a jerkwad, but an amusing kind of jerkwad. He
was incredibly compelling, because I had a hard time figuring him
out. The more I learned about him, the more I doubted whether he was
going to be a hero in the story. The whole time I was wondering what
he was up to, and whether or not he would be only looking out for
himself in the end, because you come to realize that he really isn't
a 'good' guy, but you wonder whether he can become one. It kept me
guessing. Is he an inherently good guy? Is he inherently
self-interested? Also, he was hilarious and sarcastic and cheeky.

I liked that, though
it was a sci-fi novel, it didn't really feel like a sci-fi novel. The
story and the situation were written with such ease that it felt so
natural and realistic. It's odd, but I love how much this sci-fi
turned into a courtroom drama. I wasn't expecting that, and I have a
feeling it's what added to the realistic feel of the story. We have
lawyers and intense legality issues today, so we'll obviously have
them in the future over futuristic things.

As a caution, there
was quite a bit of swearing in this story. I'm surprised that I
enjoyed it as much as I did, and I've been trying to figure out why
that is. I think the biggest reason is that the swearing was not
there for the sake of swearing, but played into the characters and
situations presented. Also the 'f' word was not used once. While
there was a lot of swearing, I didn't feel that it was used
explicitly.

Overall, the story
was excellent. It was interesting and thought-provoking.

Masterful
performance by Wil Wheaton. I actually forgot halfway through who was
narrating it because his performance essentially became the story for
me. He wasn't Wil Wheaton; he was Jack Holloway and Wheaton Aubrey
and all the other characters, and that's what makes a great
narration.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

I love this descriptor even more because it's actually
true. So much of this story felt reminiscent of the film Jodhaa
Akbar, about a Hindi princess forced to enter a peace-brokering
marriage with a Muslim emperor, that I instantly felt the presence of
Bollywood inspiration. Throw in rumors about a flying machine, some
military intrigue, family secrets, and personal metamorphosis, and
I'm one happy camper.

Princess Aniri of
the powerful Dharian empire is days away from her birthday and the
freedom it will grant her to escape the Queen's court and marry
whomever she pleases. Specifically, a handsome courtesan whose kisses
she steals in the moonlight. Cue the arrival of Prince Malik, of the
barbarian mountain country Jungali, with an offer of a
peace-brokering marriage between himself and the Queen's only
remaining eligible daughter. Granted, for the first several chapters
it seemed like this was going to be your run-of-the-mill 'princess
forced to marry for duty while in love with someone else' story. But
no. I learned pretty quick that Quinn doesn't want to settle for
run-of-the-mill.Torn
and bitter, Aniri confronts her mother. This is when
the Queen says
she doesn't want her daughter
to marry the war-loving Jungali's
prince. She wants her to spy on him.

Things got
incredibly interesting from there.

With her devoted
maid servant and a bodyguard who despises her, Aniri ventures into
the heart of enemy territory. Her mission is to learn whether this
sky warship exists and bring the information back to Dharia before
the wedding date. After that, she will be free to marry the man she
loves. Until then, she can't tell him the truth.

I fell in love with
this world. It's rich with Eastern culture and influence, like an
exotic spice in an otherwise traditional buffet. People have been
talking a lot about needing diversity in books, so I would start
here. Only once or twice did a distinctly English colloquialism catch
me off guard. The infusion of Bollywood and steampunk was beautiful
and felt so natural together, I'm shocked I haven't seen this done
before. I will be interested to see how far the other two books in
the trilogy will take us into the world -whether we'll see hints of
any culture outside of India- but if we just stay within the three
Queendoms presented in this first book, I'll be happy. (That's
another thing -the three most powerful countries here are ruled by
women.)

I would classify
this as a military intrigue romance, and I was very happy to find it
clean. There's lots of kissing, certainly, but Quinn stayed away from
anything too descriptive, doing the love story justice without
dipping into the steamy romance side of the pool. For this, a million
kudos.

Another thing I
loved about the romance was that the love triangle wasn't overdone or
overemotional or tacky. There is definitely a love triangle, but it
never felt like a high school drama/teen movie/soap opera love
triangle. One of my major peeves of love triangles is the feeling
somebody is always being unfair and unfaithful or just downright
insensitive and I never felt this to be the case.

Aniri had wonderful
depth and development. I loved watching her grow, not just
emotionally and in confidence, but in genuinely becoming a better
person. She constantly feels ashamed in the presence of Prince Malik,
who is so devoted to his country and people, whereas she is just
waiting for her chance to escape. I loved how much she learned from
him, and I love that she still has the potential for more
development. Even better, all the supporting characters had their own
depth and minor development while contributing to hers as well. I
didn't see any flat characters here, and I cheer for that.

Satisfactory ending,
but with open-ended elements to be dealt with in book two. And I must
say, after reading the summary for the sequel, and the main
character's doubts about relationship choices, make me hopeful that
Quinn will make a very healthy handling of the romantic
relationships.

In short, I had
incredibly high expectations of this book, and it didn't let me down.
Third Daughter by Susan Kaye Quinn gets four stars and yes. You
should read it.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Flunked by Jen CalonitaWhy wouldn't I want to read this book?Is there magic? Check.A fairy tale retelling? CheckDoes it deal with that old adage 'can a villain ever change'? Check.Welcome to the Fairy Tale Reform School.

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

The 1850s. The British Empire has set their sights on India as their next conquest.

The Last Queen of India, Lakshmi, is going to give them more then they bargained for.

Kemp McAvoy has just concocted a brilliant get-rich-quick scheme. With a slight adjustment of a recently-admitted movie star's meds, the help of her agent, and a down-and-out publisher, he is going to create a best selling heavenly visitation. And then he's going to get filthy rich.But when six-year-old Leah starts telling people she's seeing angels, things might not work out the way he expected.Reasons: It sounds funny, heart-warming, and I always love a good ne'er-do-well-questioning-his-life-choices story.Legion by Brandon Sanderson

Stephen Leeds, AKA
'Legion,' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a
multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of
personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills.

As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search
for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing
properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the
very structure of society.(-publisher description)Reasons: It's written by Brandon Sanderson.

Milo Speck, Accidental Agent by Linda Urban

Milo Speck has always wanted to find magic. He just didn't expect it in the form of a sock.

Now he's on a mission to rescue all the kids in the land of Ogregon from its hungry ogre inhabitants. But can he?Small boy. Big world. Really big.

Reasons: This was recommended to me by Brenda over at Log Cabin Library, and it looks right up my alley. I read Urban's A Crooked Kind of Perfect several years ago and loved it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

2044. Wade Watts spends most of his time in the virtual utopia, OASIS, whose creator hid puzzles inside and promised a fortune to whoever can solve it.

When Wade stumbles across a clue, he learns just how badly the other players want to take it from him. Enough to kill.

Ready player one. The race is on.

Reasons: This was another recommendation, and it sounds fascinating. USA Today says 'Willy Wonka meets The Matrix' and how can I not be intrigued by that? The audio is also narrated by Wil Wheaton, who did such a wonderful job on Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, I can't pass it up.

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood by Varsah BajajWhat thirteen-year-old
Abby wants most is to meet her father. She just never imagined he would
be a huge film star--in Bollywood! Now she's traveling to Mumbai to get
to know her famous father. Abby is overwhelmed by the culture clash, the
pressures of being the daughter of India's most famous celebrity, and
the burden of keeping her identity a secret. But as she learns to
navigate her new surroundings, she just might discover where she really
belongs.(description from Goodreads)

Reasons: Again, Indian culture. I've recently come to love Bollywood films, and a book not only about Bollywood, but an MG coming-of-age story? Bring. It. On.

Spelled by Betsy Schow

Fairy Tale
Survival Rule #32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch,
sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the
day.

Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely
princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like
Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a
forced marriage to the brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had
in mind for her enchanted future.

Talk about unhappily ever after.

Trying
to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally
backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some
place called "Kansas." Now it's up to Dorthea and her pixed off prince
to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse...before it
releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story.(description from Goodreads)

Reasons: Sass, sass, SASS.

The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll

A man hits his head and dies. Except, he isn't dead. And the ghost sent to collect him is flummoxed. He's told to stay with the man until his afterlife bosses figure the mess out.

Then something strange happens. The ghost falls madly in love with the man's girlfriend. Things get complicated.

Reasons: I've been on a kick lately of un-traditional ghost/paranormal stories -akin to Odd Thomas and The Returned- so this one caught my attention quick.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

The Star Trek redshirts always die. Their literary purpose is to be expendable characters.

So what happens when the redshirts figure that out?

Reasons: This sounds absolutely hysterical. I love stories that flip a standard on its head, and watching the hapless members of an illustrious star ship figure out what pop culture has known for decades? Priceless.

What I'm Watching

Need a good book?

This is one Eoin Colfer novel I've never read before. *waits for collective gasp to subside* I know. You didn't think there was one, did you?
I loved this book. It had all the humor and trademarks of a Colfer story, with some good gut-p...